Shizilin Garden (Lion Grove Garden) is honored as one of the four most famous gardens in Suzhou and has been listed as a site of the World Famous Cultural Heritage.

Shizilin Garden was erected in 1342 as a part of the Buddhism temple by fellow monks in memory of their teacher, the Monk Tianru. After Monk Tianru died, the garden passed through a number of hands and the last owner was Mr. Runsheng Pei who was a banker and industrialist in Shanghai and an ancestor of Mr. Ieoh Ming Pei (I.M. Pei), a well-known Pritzker Prize-winning Chinese American architect. The garden was donated to the state in 1950.

The Lion Grove Garden is best known for its rockeries and is thus given the title - the Rockery Kingdom. The rocks are mostly made of limestone taken from Lake Taihu and are piled into diverse forms resembling lions and other animals. Since the Qing Dynasty, many famous people have visited the garden including Emperor Qianlong and left a lot of historic relics.

Comments

It is the best for its rockery, one of the four most famous gardens in Suzhou, one of the World Heritage sites. Recommended.